Monday, December 28, 2015

A Milford development company associated with convicted mobster Gus Curcio won its appeal Wednesday to put up an apartment building next to the Stratford Police Department.
But while state Superior Court Judge Dale Radcliffe’s ruling in Bridgeport went in favor of Long Brook Station’s zoning application, he knocked the company’s request down from two free-standing buildings to one, with 45 apartments.

The Long Brook Station development’s principal is listed as Joseph Regensburger, a longtime associate of Curcio. Long Brook’s lawyer, Stephen Bellis, declined to comment on any connection the company has with Curcio.
“I’ve
only had contact with Mr. Regensburger,” Bellis said. But as to the
ruling he said, “The judge made the appropriate decision, the modified
plan addressed all the concerns the town had.”
The case was an unusual one because the plaintiff was the town of Stratford and the defendant was the town’s Zoning Board.
Last spring, town zoners gave the apartment project at 3044 Main St.
the go-ahead, and said Town Hall was all wet when it claimed the project
would cause drainage issues at police headquarters. Lawyers on both
sides agreed that it’s unusual for the town to sue itself.
Police
headquarters is a few paces from the stream called Long Brook, and it
has had water issues, although town officials say flooding there is
infrequent.
In the trial, the Police Department had objected to the apartment building being constructed in its backyard.
Stratford Police Capt. John Popik
testified the construction would create flooding problems at department
headquarters, and he feared destruction of “evidence for a serious
accident,” in the event of flooding.
“Actually, with the improvements my client is making, there will be even less flooding at police headquarters,” Bellis said.
The
donnybrook was over the vacant lot on Main Street across the street
from the YMCA. For more than a decade, it was where an ornate, but
burned-out, two-family home stood.
Recently, the parcel has become a gravel parking lot for U.S. Postal Service employees, but town officials said this is a temporary arrangement.
Next to that property is the Kingdom Hall Of Jehovah’s Witnesses church, whose acre lot is mostly paved for parking as well.
Police headquarters is situated behind and downhill from these properties, off Longbrook Avenue.
The
Long Brook development company’s address is 990 Naugatuck Ave.,
Milford, the now-vacant address of a recycling company owned by Curcio.
The
Stratford resident has long been linked by federal prosecutors to the
Genovese crime family. He has served federal prison time for
loan-sharking, extortion and obstruction of justice.
Lawyers for the town did not immediately return calls for comment.
In May 2014, Long Brook filed an application with the Stratford Planning and Zoning Commission to build 54 two-bedroom apartments in two buildings on the 0.91-acre parcel.
The
commission later rejected the application; in February, Long Brook
submitted the scaled-down plan, which was approved by the commission
over the Police Department’s objection.
The
town then appealed the Zoning Board’s decision and Long Brook appealed
the rejection of its original plan. The lawsuit was filed March 31.
“The
court finds the Town of Stratford’s objections to the approval of the
modified plan fail to resonate, and are without merit,” the judge ruled.
The
judge also tossed out the town’s insistence that there be an emergency
entrance at the rear of the property — an entrance that would have
required access from the police department’s own parking lot, and
something the town was unwilling to provide.